Carlos Santana, Billy Joel and Herbie Hancock are among the recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. As reported by the Associated Press, the honorees will be saluted during a gala performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on December 8.

“I guess people understand that Santana is not just a Mexican guitar player – I bring a collective-consciousness awareness agenda with me,” said Santana, who relocated from Mexico to San Francisco with his family, when he was six. “I grew up with the generation of Woodstock and Bob Marley, ‘One Love,’ and ‘Imagine,’ John Lennon. I am one of them, and we don't do what we do to be commercial or to be popular or to be cute. It's not entertainment or show business for us. For us, it's a calling."